


Change Comes

by MicrosuedeMouse



Category: Assassination Classroom
Genre: Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, F/M, Feelings Realization, Finale spoilers, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:27:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25369114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MicrosuedeMouse/pseuds/MicrosuedeMouse
Summary: At the beginning of the year, Hara thinks Terasaka is a dick, and Terasaka doesn't think much about Hara at all.By the end of the year, that's... no longer the case.
Relationships: Hara Sumire/Terasaka Ryouma
Kudos: 10





	Change Comes

**Author's Note:**

> (tripping over ships based on nothing and WIPs I may never be ambitious enough to finish) here, take this
> 
> based on the anime, with the additional manga detail of Taisei and Hara being childhood friends. haven't read the manga yet, though I'd like to. anyway - I have piles of fic for this show but this one, at least, stands alone and is actually _done._ maybe one day I'll post more??? who's to say.
> 
> I love this ship for a bunch of reasons. the biggest one is probably the scene described below where she gives him shit for calling her fat, and the related fact that I'm a huge sucker for 'reformed/reforming asshole and the total sweetheart mom friend who's not afraid to keep them in line'

For Ryouma, something changes when she gets up in his face.

Being mean is automatic to him, now. He doesn’t think about it. He barely even hears himself call her ‘fatty’ – Taisei has to point it out, later: _you said it twice, man. Kind of uncalled for._ (Taisei usually doesn’t care that much when Ryouma’s an ass, but she _is_ one of Taisei’s oldest friends, he remembers after the fact.) The point is, insults slip from his lips more easily than anything else. It’s gotten him this far.

But he’s standing there, shirtless and ankle-deep in the rushing water, still burning off the adrenaline of a fight, when Sumire Hara appears behind him, deadly calm, and begins to chew him out. For a second or two he doesn’t even know what’s going on. “Didn’t mean to be a dick, just sizing up the situation, all objective-like,” he stammers, suddenly feeling acutely threatened, but that only seems to infuriate her further. She jabs an accusatory finger at his chest, and a moment later she’s backed him up against the rocks. Karma distracts him then, and Hara slips from his mind for the moment.

It’s not until that evening that he thinks about it again. On the way home he and Taisei and Takuya had talked over the events of the afternoon, and Taisei had given him a little shit – _she wasn’t kidding when she said she could kick your ass, dude_ – but overall she barely crosses his mind until after dark, when he’s sitting on the apartment balcony with the breeze ruffling his hair.

With all her intense ‘mom friend’ energy – her sweet smile and gentle nature and tendency to recede into the background – he’d never really expected Hara to have an intimidating bone in her body. It had taken him by surprise when she came at him for what he’d said. And he’s surprised, now, to realise he feels a little guilty. She’s never done anything to deserve his derision, he supposes. She’s a genuinely good, _kind_ person, and he’s just been dismissing her out of hand.

But it’s the image of her he can’t seem to shake. Eyes cold, brows lowered aggressively, teeth bared, considerably shorter than he is but somehow _scary_ as she leans in. Over the next few days Ryouma chews on this, trying to work out why it’s so impactful – and he guesses it’s how unexpected it is. Kind of like Nagisa, really. It’s so easy to assume that Hara’s harmless, so when that switch flips and she gets _mad_ , you don’t quite know what you’re supposed to do. You just know you’ve fucked up. Figuring that out, though, doesn’t help him get the picture of her out of his head.

If his heart was racing when she came at him that day, he wouldn’t’ve noticed, because it had already been pounding from the effort of fighting Itona. That’s not the case when he catches himself a little short of breath just remembering it. His pulse picks up a little when he thinks of her backing him up against that boulder, and honestly he isn’t sure why.

Ryouma spends the next week or so peering at her out of the corner of his eye in class. Not once does he see even a trace of that scary side. Hara is nothing if not generous, thoughtful, caring. People love her for it and to his surprise he finds himself almost envying that, in a way. He’s spent years demanding respect with brute force, but he’s already realised that’s not going to work as a long-term strategy. Not to mention the fact that even his closest friends wouldn’t necessarily always say they _like_ him. On the other hand, no one seems to have a sour word to say about Hara – they respect her _and_ they like her. Just for being kind.

His stomach does something strange when she catches him looking her way.

He refuses to mention any of this to _anyone_. He’s never been one to talk about his feelings or thoughts anyway, and besides, he’s still figuring out what it even _is_. It takes ages for him to recognise, let alone accept, not least because he can’t even remember the last time he had a crush. Sure, he admires the occasional pretty girl as much as any boy his age, but even when he lets himself think about it he’s not convinced he’s really had _feelings_ for a girl since he was just a little kid. And Sumire Hara, of all people? He knows what people expect of a guy like him. He’s big and stupid, full of bravado and unearned confidence: surely, if anyone, he’d set his sights on the hottest girl in the room. Kanzaki, maybe, popular for her shy sort of beauty, or Nakamura, with her long blonde hair and hint of a mean streak. Maybe even Yada. Koro-sensei seems convinced there might be something between him and Hazama, but Ryouma’s pretty sure that’s just because Hazama’s the only girl he talks to every day.

Regardless, no one expects someone like him to fall for the sweet, unassuming Hara. Especially after hearing him call her names like _fatty_.

Not that it matters, anyway. No one would ever guess. The thing is, Ryouma doesn’t really know how _not_ to be a tool. He might not be directly awful to her any more, but it’s in proportion with how he’s warmed up to the class in general. He’s on good terms with Hara because she’s close with Taisei, and that’s about the extent of it. Even if he _wanted_ to show her he liked her, he wouldn’t know where to start. So at best, he’s gruff with her. Her feelings about him seem to sit on a sliding scale from ‘playfully irritated’ to ‘moderately disgusted,’ and he figures he’s earned that.

“This is pretty good,” he manages to grunt at her the day she brings in a giant thermos of homemade stew for lunch and Taisei and Takuya convince him to try it. She gives him a smile, small and genuine, before turning to listen to Fuwa, and that’s about the best he ever gets. He wouldn’t expect any different.

For Sumire, the change happens one early-autumn evening, watching him give another student a hard time about learning a little damn patience.

At the beginning of the year, she would confidently have labeled him the worst person she knew. She only ever put up with him at all because Taisei liked him, for some reason she could never work out. And for a long time he does nothing to improve his standing in her eyes, but eventually, he seems to open up to the class a little. He learns to smile sometimes. And so, as long as he’s not slinging insults around anymore, she learns to find him bearable.

And then there’s that night that they find themselves trying to cheer up Itona – trying to save him from being consumed by spite, from succumbing to the power of his mutation. “Take it _easy_ ,” Terasaka says to the kid, and Sumire raises her eyebrows.

The little speech he gives speaks volumes. Not only does he succeed in calming Itona down, but he showcases how much _he’s_ already grown since the spring. Not long ago no one would have believed he’d ever be anything but resentful and angry and mean – yet here he is, talking about patience and teamwork. Showing actual compassion. And, she realises later when she replays the whole thing in her head – he speaks _well._ People like to call him stupid, and admittedly he struggles with his academics, but he’s concise and articulate and effective. He gets his point across beautifully. And Sumire finally gets why Taisei and Takuya follow him around, why people seem to treat him as a leader: he _does_ have that charisma and that passion, it turns out. He’s just been hiding it.

It’s the first time she looks at him and realises he’s becoming a person she likes.

It would be a lie to suggest that Terasaka is anything but rough around the edges. That much goes without saying. But after that night, after he lets everyone see how far he’s come, she finds herself paying him a little more attention than she’d been doing before, and she’s impressed with what she sees. He’s not so reckless or impulsive anymore, instead putting actual thought into his actions and decisions. He’s easier-going. More likely to take a joke, and less likely to make one at someone else’s expense. He talks to and laughs with and _cares for_ people outside of his immediate circle. And the way he looks out for Itona strikes her particularly hard. She’s always been maternal by nature, trying to look after the people around her – so it’s heartwarming, somehow, to watch a boy who used to be so closed-off and uncaring take a vulnerable, misunderstood peer under his wing.

It’s strange, though, the day she and the other girls are sitting in the grass, taking a break and watching the boys run drills with Karasuma, and she realises her eyes have been following Terasaka the entire time.

She doesn’t notice it at first. She’s leaning back on her arms, smiling slightly as she listens but doesn’t participate while some of the others talk about the boys. Hinano is lamenting how hot Karasuma is, and poor Manami is blushing furiously as Yuzuki tries to get her to agree with the assessment that Karma’s probably the best-looking guy in class, and Rio’s teasing Yukiko about Sugino’s obvious crush on her. Half-following the conversation, Sumire reflects on but doesn’t voice her own opinions: Isogai _does_ have that Prince-Charming thing going on, and she likes that about him, but not enough to have a crush. Maehara would probably be cuter if he didn’t think he was such a Casanova. Yuzuki comments that Yoshida’s pretty handsome, but Sumire can only grimace and think, _Taisei’s like a brother to me_.

And then, for some reason, she suddenly becomes aware of the fact that she’s been watching Terasaka this whole time – idly, but with enough presence of mind to follow him through a sparring match with four of the other guys. Maybe it’s just because of the backdrop discussion of boys and crushes, but out of nowhere the question hits her like a train: _do I_ like _Terasaka?_

What a concept.

Her knee-jerk instinct is to dismiss the possibility on principle, but unfortunately once it’s occurred to her it doesn’t want to leave her alone.

She keeps it to herself while she tries to figure it out, because frankly the only think she can think of that’s worse than anyone knowing she has a thing for Ryouma Terasaka is the idea of people _believing_ she has a thing for Ryouma Terasaka when she _doesn’t_. But as spring approaches once again and the whole class grows friendlier, spends more time together, mixes more freely, she finds herself hanging out with Terasaka’s group just by dint of her friendship with Taisei. And she’s more aware than ever, now, of how much he’s changed for the better. How he’s not just _tolerable_ now, but even _appealing_. She wouldn’t tell him so, because finding him kind of exhausting seems to be part of their dynamic: he’ll crack a rude joke and throw her a mischievous grin, because he _knows_ she’ll be rolling her eyes, and that’s how it goes. Sumire doesn’t want to mess with it.

But if nothing else makes her believe it, she knows she likes him when she’s walking next to him across Kunugigaoka’s main campus and realises she feels _safe_. There’s a lot there to unpack, when she thinks about it: she never used to feel safe at all, down here where all the ‘regular’ students are. She was always overlooked at best, and more often trampled on. She’s gotten better, gotten more confident, being in Koro-sensei’s class, and she knows how to defend herself now – but there’s a difference between knowing how to defend yourself and knowing you won’t have to.

And then there’s Terasaka himself: _safe_ was not a word she would ever have applied to him, six months ago. She hadn’t, by and large, ever been actively intimidated by him, but she certainly hadn’t _liked_ him. He’d gotten her back up. Made her feel defensive. Now, as they stroll towards the main office to deliver some paperwork on Koro-sensei’s behalf, she feels entirely comfortable. Comfortable in the knowledge that Terasaka is trustworthy, is a _friend_ , and in the knowledge that if anyone so much as looks at her funny he’ll have her back.

Sumire’s so lost in that discovery that she almost doesn’t notice that someone _is_ looking at her. Heading the opposite direction along a path between two buildings, a trio of girls who’d been in her class last year have their heads ducked together, snickering. They barely register for her until she hears Terasaka call out accusingly, “What’re you cunts laughing at?”

She doesn’t look back to see their faces when they gasp, offended – not least because she’s trying _hard_ not to chuckle. “ _Language_ , Terasaka,” she scolds quietly, more for appearances than out of any actual commitment to good manners, and the way he’s grinning he can obviously tell.

“C’mon,” he says, shrugging casually and tucking his hands into his pockets. He doesn’t care.

Looking at his face is a mistake, because she cracks an amused smile of her own. “You know, you’re not half bad, Terasaka,” she tells him, impulsively. “For a jerk.”

His grin grows a little, and she almost resents the burst of warmth in her stomach.

Almost.

It’s the day after graduation, and they’re at the classroom, because where else is there to go? It’s still roped off with caution tape but the military guards are gone and getting up there is hardly a problem. They need to be together, need to be _there_. Because there’s still so much to process and no one else is going to understand. They all need each other.

And it’s a strange day. There’s laughing and there’s crying, in equal measure, sometimes both at once. They hold each other, clasp each other’s hands, rub each other’s backs. Wander through the woods and fall asleep in the grass. They spend more time leafing through these enormous books Koro-sensei left for them, reminiscing over their favourite photos and sharing the details they notice in his Rules to Live By. Even in the moments no one is actively upset, the moments when it almost feels like everything is fine, they’re all aware how much they need this. Need each other.

Everything that hasn’t changed yet is going to very soon, and they need to be together while they can.

Ryouma is on his way back outside from the washroom when he glances into the classroom and sees Hara standing there, smiling sadly at the chalkboard, one arm wrapped around her middle and the fingers of her other hand curled and pressed to her lips. He hears a sniffle and slows his step, wondering if he should say something.

She doesn’t notice him there, so he hesitates a second or two, trying to get a read on her. After a moment her smile widens against her hand, but it’s strained, and at the same time she squeezes her eyes shut and takes a shaky breath. He’s not exactly cut out for comforting people, but they have a tenuous sort of friendship now, and he _cares_ , not to mention _understands_ , and he knows he can’t just walk away and pretend he didn’t see her.

“Hara, are you okay?” he asks softly, hoping not to startle her as he takes a careful step into the room.

She glances up, eyes wet, palm now clasped over her mouth. For maybe a second she stares at him, and then she shakes her head quickly.

Ryouma doesn’t know what to say now, but he takes a couple more steps towards her, wracking his brain for _something_. Then Hara swallows and removes her hand. “ _Should_ I be?” she asks, half a sob and half a laugh.

He grimaces. “No, of course not,” he admits, glancing at the floor. “I just…”

“I know.” She sighs and takes a deep breath, trying to steady her voice. “I can’t… I can’t believe he’s gone. I can’t believe how much it hurts. Even as the year went on, and we started to love having him for a teacher, I never knew it was going to feel like _this_. I don’t think it ever quite seemed real.”

Ryouma pauses, considering his words, and swallows a lump in his throat. “I know,” he says softly, looking at the floor. “It kind of _still_ doesn’t feel real. I never… expected to care so much. Even after I stopped hating him.”

And then she kind of laughs again, and he glances up, curious. “I can’t believe it only took a weird mutant assassin-turned-teacher octopus-man teaching a bunch of junior-high kids how to _kill_ for Terasaka Ryouma to learn how to _care_ about people.” She wipes the heel of her palm across her eyes, swiping away unshed tears. “Assassin training, of all things, finally made you a nice person.”

He can’t say exactly why he bristles at that, but she seems to cheer up when he smiles a little, mock-offended. “Hey,” he complains. “I’m not _nice_.”

“Yeah, you are,” she argues, still wet-eyed but giggling now. “I can prove it.”

“Oh? And how’re you gonna do that?” he teases back, just trying to keep that smile on her face.

And that’s when Hara surprises him, diving forward into his chest. Her arms slip under his and around his back, and she tucks her face against his shirt. She’s warm and soft and smells clean and faintly sweet, and he’s so startled that initially he doesn’t move at all, except to balance out the force of her tackle. When he _does_ move, it’s on autopilot, lowering his own arms down around her shoulders and holding her snug against him. Staring at the top of her head, he realises that despite all her efforts not to cry there are tears soaking into the front of his shirt, but somehow he doesn’t actually mind.

“See?” she asks after a second or two, her voice muffled but audible against his chest. “You’re hugging me back instead of shoving me away. You’re nice now.”

He blinks, turning his wide gaze out the window toward their classmates on the grass, and settles his chin on her hair. “You can’t tell anyone,” he finally answers, quietly. “I have a reputation.”

“If you hug people now, they’re gonna find out,” she tells him. “Reputation or not. Hugs are _nice_.”

“No one said I hug _people_ ,” Ryouma disagrees. “I’m hugging _you_ , not just _whoever_. There’s a difference.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She’s still crying a little, but here she giggles slightly, too.

Honestly it seems like kind of a miracle that no one’s looked up at the windows and noticed the two of them here, but at the same time, he likes that this moment is private. He lowers his eyes from their classmates outside back to the top of her head. “Being nice to _you_ isn’t the same as just _being nice_ ,” he says softly. He’s starting to feel self-conscious, and has to fight the automatic urge to get surly as a result.

Something about this exchange is earnest and vulnerable, and he gets the feeling that he has to be honest. No hiding.

Hara’s quiet for a few moments at that, but he swears her fingers dig a little harder into the back of his shirt. Finally, she says, “You never told me which high school you got into.”

The change of subject takes him aback, but after a confused second, he answers her. “Nowhere fancy. Just Umemoto.”

And then she nods. “Good. You can keep being nice to me there, then.”


End file.
